The highly-anticipated album, The Tree of Forgiveness, is Prine’s first collection of new material since 2005’s Grammy-winning Fair and Square.

Back in 1970, Prine was playing at the Chicago folk club The Fifth Peg when the young journalist Roger Ebert dropped in for a set. At the time, Prine was a 23-year-old mailman who had been singing his original songs every Thursday night for about two months. Ebert wrote a glowing review for the Chicago Sun- Times , essentially launching Prine’s music career. Kris Kristofferson became one of his earliest advocates; their friendship has lasted decades and they have toured together extensively over the years. In turn, Prine has invited a new generation of songwriters to open his concerts.